jamesbrown

Hi Ken, I have already bought the ram i wish to use from Crucial (through their scanning and selection process). After sorting my drives out I inserted the new sticks into the two unused slots on my motherboard, with the intention of running those sticks along side the 4GB I have already installed. BIOS has acknowledged the arrival of more memory but windows completely locked up after a few minutes following login. Didn't want to bleat about the problem here in-case it's against forum rules. I've removed the new sticks for the time being and the system has returned to normal. I'm still sorting out my hardrives at the moment so won't address the problem until that's all sorted.

Hi Ken, I am using Avira and Malwarebytes at the moment. My operating system is Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I've successfully managed to clone my old drive onto the new 1TB drive in a way that allows me to make use of the entire 1TB. I know it's alot for just the OS and Apps but I thought I would try to prepare for the future. I have other drives installed in the same machine that take care of personal files etc. The operating system is now stable and everything is working as it should :) The next job on my list is upgrading 4GB of RAM to 8GB. Low and behold I've already run into problems but I'll leave that possibly for another thread in a different section. I'm sure the subject has been covered copiously by others so I will read up on the topic as much as possible and self-diagnose from there. Thanks for your help!

Hi guys, Many thanks to you all (RandyL, Nev, KenB and DSTM) for all your help and advice so far. Here's where I'm at: I've re-formatted and cloned onto the new drive using Macrium and I can now boot from the new drive and everything is exactly as it should be. Unfortunately I did this before I read all of your helpful advice, including the useful Marcrium article that shows you how to enlarge the new drive's partition size before you start the cloning process. I am now where I was to start off with, i.e. I am now booted with the new drive. The partition containing the OS and apps is 500GB and there is 500GB aprox of unallocated space remaining. It would seem that these are my two options: Create a second parition using the unallocated space and treat that as another 500GB drive or Reclone all over again, except this time tell Macrium to make the new partition on the new drive 1TB in size. I've had a look through Macrium and can't seem to find a way of enlarging the partition after the cloning process. I take heed of Nev's advice regarding third party software that can enlarge partitions but I think I will only explore that avenue as a last resort (i'm terrified of accidentally downloading malware).

Yes that does make sense. The reason why that happened was due to the fact that I am cloning a 500GB HD onto a 1TB HD. Reflect created a partition on the 1TB drive that was only 500GB in size. As I wanted to make use of the entire HD I expanded the partition but in doing so created an unbootable system. How can i prevent this? I've tried telling reflect to make use of the 1TB by copying the files over directly but it prefers to clone the partition size as well. Thanks for all the advice so far guys!

Ok. In the name of science I'm going to try both i.e., do a complete PC backup using the windows utility (on the new hardrive) and then try restoring/booting from that. I will also attempt to re-clone and make sure all the partitions are how I want them before proceeding. Thanks :)

Dear all, Recently I've considered for the sake of data security and peace of mind to clone my C drive onto a freshly installed 1TB internal hardrive and then boot the pc from the new clone. I used the software called 'Reflect' to make an identical copy of the main local disk C which contains my applications and operating system (vista ultimate 64bit). Before I performed the clonning operation I formatted my new internal hardrive in NTFS and assigned it to the next available drive letter. After the cloning was done, I shut down the PC, unplugged the SATA cable from my old disk C, switched on and hoped that the BIOS would recognise the boot sector on the new disk and all would boot normally. First time around I was correct, somehow windows managed to boot from the new disk, everything was exactly as it should be. Windows had automatically changed the new disk's identity to (local disk C). Fine and dandy...until I next did a reboot. When I next booted, the computer would restart after the windows loading screen (with the green bar moving from left to right) had showed for a short period. Now this behaviour could be attributed towards the fact that I was tweaking things in msconfig under the 'boot' section, trying to speed up my boot time (i'm not a complete twit however, I was very careful to only disable third party software that I had installed myself in the past that was not required for a boot. I did not disable any vital operating system services). Basically, what i would most like to know is what is the best way (or procedure) for successfully cloning a hardrive that might be nearing the end of it's life (i have not experienced any strange noises or adverse effects but I still feel it's time). Another thing that I did which may have confused things is I expanded the new partition in disk manager because my new hardrive is 1TB and the old one is 500GB. The 'Reflect' cloning software only created a partition as big as the old drive so I had nearly 500GB of unallocated space once the new drive was successfully booted. I expanded the partition so I could make full use of the disk. Would this move have screwed up the system files? It shouldn't have done. I have now reconnected my old disk and booted from that fine. I'm in the process of creating a complete PC backup using window's own utility (backup and restore) with my new drive as the destination. Am I doing the right thing? What caused my original clone attempt to go horribly wrong? What is the best way to introduce a new drive to your system with the intention of making it the new primary slave disk © ? Many thanks in advance for any tips or advice you might have on this topic. Best regards, James.

Hi All, The reason why i couldn't get this answer simply from a search engine is because like so many search results today one is spammed with too many options and i don't know which ones i can trust. I thought it would be better in this case to open my research to a community i am familiar with. I'm looking for a free and recomended system analyser that scans my hardware and gives me specific information about all the elements inside my case. I'm interested in finding out specifics about my RAM manufacturer and motherboard etc. If you know any that you yourself have worked with and would recomend please post links here. Best Regards and many thanks, JB.:D

Hi There. I have recently aquired a free pc that a friend no longer wanted. I formated the hardrive and installed windows xp sp3 onto it. It is a small little computer which origionally came from a school. It does not have a graphics card but it does obviously have onboard. There is no display adaptors tab in device manager, and as a result i cannot update the display driver. This is a pain. As it has onboard graphics, i cannot find a make or model which would then let me download the drivers manually off the manufacturer's web site. Any suggestions? The reason why i want to upgrade the driver, is because i am using this pc in conjunction with a projector, and with the current display capability, it will not fill the screen i am projecting on to. Is there a possibility that the onboard graphics is not capable of producing an image or the size of dimentions i want? I don't think that the make and model of this machine would help; i'm not entirely sure. i think it could be a custom build.

Hi There, My friend is currently using a Dell studio 540. 4GB RAM, Windows vista home premium, Intel Quad cord 2.4 Ghz, NVIDIA 9800GT with 1GB onboard memory. Today it started doing this thing where the machine remains running with all fans running, making normal sounds, and the screen goes into power saving mode. Before you ask all the cables conecting the monitor to the pc are perfectly in tact! It just goes black, like a loss of signal..... but i am convinsed this problem is software related. The way to fix the issue is to hold down the power button until the machine stops, and starting it up again and everything works fine for about 10 mins and then it dies. I booted the machine in safemode and everything was absolutly fine. This suggests that it could be a driver problem or virus? Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Dear All, As many of you know, most networking devices (computers, network storage, routers etc etc) have default gateways that you can type in to any browser (on a pc connected to that network) and you can acess the operating system of whatever device on the network it is you with to configure. Well i have recently purchaised a Edimax Wireless range extender, and i currently have it plugged into my LAN, to make a remote part of my house wireless. This works fine in a plug and play way, however the default gateway ip address which is stated in the manual to acess the settings of the device does not work when i tpye it into the web browser. I have tried plugging it directly into my pc, and tried again with no effect. I have even run the command 'iponfig' in the command prompt whilst directly connected to the device and i get absolutly nothing for the default gateway, which would explain why nothing happens when i try to type the address given to me by the company into my web browser. Is it possible to assign a gateway to the device, but how if i can't acess the settings? Is the default gateway something that can't be added by me, but should have been by the company, so i need to set it back?? Please give me your thoughts on this issue.

Hi, At school, the network gurus use a system where if they want a wireless connection for a building or classroom, they plug a device a bit like a router into an existing LAN socket in the room, it then transmits that LAN wirelessly. What is the name of this device and it's function? I have an internal LAN in my house, and i want to make it wireless in one of the rooms. Thankyou!

If it was an HDD issue, surely my disks would have crashed making any task impossible?

I mean general usage. It performs fantastically for games...but it is slow in the sense that it is now taking longer to open files, start programs, log in, perform tasks.

Thanks for the link i will check that out. No i'm not running AVG. I have used it in the past and during that time i did get viruses on another machine i had that was running it, so i no longer use it. I'm using norton :( which i know does affect performance but at the end of the day am i protected? I bought the version of norton i have. I also have the full version of malware bytes. Is avira a good one to use?

Like any new system it was very fast to begin with, and admittedly it has got slower with time. Is it possible to install many applications without a compromise on performance?

Dear All, This a problem which has been really eating at me recently. My home build pc is a 2.40Ghz, 4GB RAM, 1.5TB space, Nvidia 9800GT, windows vista ultimate 64-bit pc. As you can see it is a pretty powerful system...so why is it so slow? I am NOT using up exessive amounts of disk space. Now before you start telling me about viruses and malware I have scanned! with several different programs! And YES i have defragmented the hardrive! And YES i have sorted the registry out with CCleaner...so what is the problem? I've had this system for over a year, i also have a laptop with a lower specification which i have owned for longer...but the laptop is faster than the homebuild...why? When i look in task manager there does not appear to be anything hogging the cpu, the RAM is not overloaded (although vista is typically using over a gigabyte), and i have 800GB free space on my hard disk.....so what could possibly be slowing it down. I have done scan after scan and nothing seems to be helping. I can reinstall the operating system but that is a last resort because it will take ages and ruin my workspace. Please help, i'm in a state of desperation!

One possible option.. ok, it's difficult for me to tell what is and isn't possible on your machine from reading your post, so the help i'm about to give may be of great or little use. The following help will allow you to acsess your data and files, after that i would recomend backing up your entire computer using this method and then either reinstall windows or get a new laptop. Locate your operating system disk and insert, try to boot from disk. If you can't manage to boot from the disk i would recomend contacting your manufacturer or taking your pc to a shop because if you can't boot from the cd i can't help you. Upon booting the disk, select your country/nationality options, then next Then click "repair your computer" From this point you have a number of options. you can try restoring to an earlier date when ur pc worked, or you can do what i suggest. Click the command prompt link on that page, and once it has opened a command line type "notepad" Once that had opened click file, open, and then you can acesess all your files and folders within that wizard. At this point i would backup everything you have onto external hdd. Then reinstall windows. This is only an idea and might not be the only thing you can do. Use my advice as a last resort when all hope of any other solution is lost. good luck!

Done that. My most recent research into this problem suggests that it could be because my windows 7 machine is a home edition, which means that it can only recieve a certain amount of connections from other servers, and it's flexibility on the network is limited. This is just an idea, but i did obtain other windows 7 machine and tested that and everything worked fine, however this machine i borrowed was a windows 7 ultimate edition which has few connection limits.

Hi there! I have an icy box central network storage device, attached to my LAN. It contains 2x 1TB sata hard discs and is formated with a RAID 1 file system. I have configured it to share files on the network. It is visible on the network page of all my vista machines, however it is not visible on my windows 7 home premium machine. All vista machines are visible on the windows 7 machine, and the windows 7 machine is visible on all vista machines. What is it about the icy box that is compatible with vista machines and not windows 7? I have made sure that all sharing options + network visibility options are enabled in windows 7 so which can't it see the icy box? It can see everything else, including sonos players, cameras and all vista machines, but not the ice box. Is there a file system (apart from samba) within the icy box i need to enable? Thankyou very much in advance to anyone who can help with this :)

sorry about that. i do know and understand this forum rule, however i couldn't find any way of deleting this post (after i realised i wanted to post this problem in another area section.) Thanks for your help!

Dear All, I have just installed a version of xp profesional on a new build pc. Does windows come with basic drivers to operate the sound capabilities of the motherboard? This computer is not directly connected to the internet so i want to know if there is anything i can do first, before having to move it to somewhere where there is internet. Does XP come with it's own basic drivers for sound? or will the sound simply not work without the manufacturer's drivers? thanks,

i think i have sorted it. I ran a malware bytes scan, and it found something in the registry that was called hijack display driver. since that has gone the problem has gone.

by the sounds of things, your system is overclocking unwantedly or your CPU and RAM are not being cooled properly due to poor design and arrangment of fans. It looks as though the heat is building up, this then slows pc performance, and your main laptop heat sensors are pickup up the exessive heat and powering up the main fans. If you are happy to do this kind of thing, i'd take a look inside and check that there is nothing preventing the CPU from being cooled efficiently. the hotter a pc gets, the slowers it gets.

hello there, These situations are always terrible because one never can be sure whether or not it is the update you have just installed, or just the hardware failing. From the sounds of this problem, i'd recomend trying a new PSU (power supply unit). If you don't have the resources at home then i think you ought to ring up dell support and ask them what they think. Random flashing can be a sign of PSU failiure. My view is that if the hardware was ok, the pc would start and run. There is no reason for the software to prevent the pc from starting. How this helped a little :)

here is what i got: Win9x:NO 64Bit:YES GiveIO:NO SpeedFan:YES I/O properly initialized Linked ISA BUS at $0290 Linked Intel 82801JIB ICH10 SMBUS at $0500 Found nVidia GeForce 9800 GT Linked nVidiaI2C0 SMBUS at $3D403E3F Linked nVidiaI2C1 SMBUS at $3D403637 Linked nVidiaI2C2 SMBUS at $3D405051 Scanning ISA BUS at $0290... SuperIO Chip=IT8718F IT8718F found on ISA at $290 Scanning Intel SMBus at $0500... LM75 found on SMBus at $4E Scanning I2CNVidia SMBus at $3D403E3F... Address $2D appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $2E appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $48 appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $49 appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $4C appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $50 appears to be WRITE ONLY... Scanning I2CNVidia SMBus at $3D403637... Address $2D appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $2E appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $48 appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $4C appears to be WRITE ONLY... Scanning I2CNVidia SMBus at $3D405051... Address $2D appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $2E appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $48 appears to be WRITE ONLY... Address $4C appears to be WRITE ONLY... Found Intel® Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz End of detection what does this all mean?